1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for displaying the status of a supplementary service of a Mobile Equipment (ME) in a mobile communication system, and more specifically, to an apparatus and a method in which a user can check the status of one or multiple supplementary services at one time without using a menu.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method for displaying the status of a supplementary service for which a user has registered on the screen of an ME, so that the user can check the status of the supplementary service includes the following two functions:
1) an interrogate function of a call independent supplementary service; and
2) a Customer Service Profile (CSP) function provided by a Common PCN Handset Specification (CPHS).
Hereinafter, the interrogate function will be described. An ME user may register for various types of supplementary services, including:                a call forwarding service group: Call Forwarding Unconditional (CFU), Call Forwarding Busy (CFB), Call Forwarding No Reply (CFNRy), and Call Forwarding Not Reacheable (CFNRc);        a call barring service group: Barring of All Outgoing Calls supplementary service (BAOC), Barring of Outgoing International Calls supplementary service (BOIC), Barring of Outgoing International Calls except those directed to the Home PLMN Country supplementary service (BOIC exHC), Barring of All Incoming Calls supplementary service (BAIC), Barring of Incoming Calls when Roaming outside the home PLMN country (BIC Roam);        Call Hold (CH), Call Waiting (CW), Call Completion to Busy Subscriber (CCBS), User to User Signaling (UUS), Multiparty (MPTY), Closed User Group (CUG), and Advice of Charge (AoC); and        line identification service group: Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP), Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR), Connected Line Identification Presentation (COLP) and Connected Line Identification Restriction (COLR).        
An ME user may register for one or multiple supplementary services as described above. After registering, the user may check if the user has registered for each supplementary service and the status of each supplementary service by means of an interrogate command.
FIGS. 1A to 1F are diagrams illustrating a process for checking the status of a CFU by means of an interrogate command.
FIG. 1A shows a menu screen that displays a plurality of menus including a phone, a display and a dialer.
FIG. 1B shows a sub-menu screen displayed when dialer is selected. The sub-menu of the dialer selection includes a plurality of services such as call forwarding and call waiting.
FIG. 1C shows a sub-menu screen displayed when call forwarding is selected from the sub-menu screen. The sub-menu of the call forwarding selection includes a plurality of services such as CFU and CFB.
FIG. 1D shows a sub-menu screen displayed when CFU is selected from the sub-menu screen. The sub-menu of the CFU selection includes a plurality of operations such as “register” and “interrogate”.
FIG. 1E is a diagram illustrating a process that occurs after “interrogate”is selected from the sub-menu until an ME transmits the interrogate command to a network and receives a response.
In FIG. 1E, an API represents an application program of an ME for providing a User Interface (UI). Tasks of an ME include an SS (supplementary service) and an MM (mobility management).
MNSS_BEGIN_REQ represents a start request for a status check of an SS, which is transmitted from the API to the SS when a user requests such a status check. MNSS is an abbreviation for “Mobile Network Supplementary Service”. MNSS_EST_REQ represents that the SS requests the MM to establish channels. EST is an abbreviation for “Establish”. REGISTER represents a request to a network. Facility [Invoke=InterrogateSS (CLIP)]represents an Interrogation for the status of the CLIP in supplementary services. RELEASE COMPLETE represents a response for a register operation. Facility [Return Resul=InterrogateSS (SS-Status)] represents the current status result values of each supplementary service. MMSS_REL_IND represents a command for reporting a channel release, and MMSS_END_IND represents a command for reporting an end of a process.
The facility corresponds to an element in a sent REGISTER or RELEASE COMPLETE message. Further, the facility includes parameters therein. For example, the facility includes an interrogate parameter for requesting the status of each supplementary service, a parameter representing current status result values of each supplementary service, etc.
In contrast to REGISTER in FIG. 1E, Register on the screen of FIG. 1D may be selected by a user for registration of a supplementary service. FIG. 1F illustrates a Result screen displayed when the ME receives the response including the status of the supplementary service after transmitting the interrogate command to the network. In FIG. 1F, the CFU service is activated and the registered phone number is 02-123-4567.
Typically, a user intuitively desires to instantly check the status of a service for which the user has registered, but the status of the service is not actually checked at an instant. In other words, it is necessary to transmit an interrogate command for requesting the status of a service and perform a corresponding operation (selection of items from a menu screen or a sub-menu screen, etc.) for the transmission of the interrogate command. Therefore, a user is inconvenienced. Considering that a user generally registers for several services, the user must enter a sub-menu each time and transmit an interrogate command when the user wants to check a status for each service. This may increase user inconvenience as well as cost.
Hereinafter, the CSP function provided by the CPHS will be described.
The CSP function, which belongs to services of the CPHS, stores the status of an available supplementary service in an Elementary File (EF) CSP within a (U)SIM, and displays or activates a menu item only when a specific supplementary service has been activated. The (U)SIM is a term representing both a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM). The USIM is another name indicating a UMTS smart card. In order to use the EF CSP, an additional EF “EF CPHS Information (CPHSI)”, indicating that the CSP service has been allocated and activated, is required. Herein, because other EFs associated with the CPHS generally implement a request, it is not easy to provide only a single CSP service.
FIGS. 2A to 2D are diagrams illustrating menu screens of an ME equipped with a (U)SIM card to which the CSP of the CPHS is not provided FIG. 2A shows a screen which displays various menus including Phone, Display and Call. FIG. 2B shows a screen displayed when Call has been selected, and includes Caller ID and Forwarding. FIG. 2C shows a screen displayed when the Call Forwarding has been selected, and includes Voice Call and Data Call. FIG. 2D shows a screen displayed when Voice Call has been selected, which shows all services which a user has registered for or not.
FIGS. 3A to 3D are diagrams illustrating screens of an ME equipped with a (U)SIM card to which the CSP of the CPHS is provided. The screens display only the supplementary services for which a user has registered or the accessible supplementary services.
FIG. 3A shows a screen which displays various menus including Phone, Display and Call. FIG. 3B shows a sub-menu screen displayed when Call has been selected, and displays only services having been set to 1 in the EF CSP, such as Forwarding and Waiting. FIG. 3C shows a screen displayed when Call Forwarding has been selected, and includes Voice Call and Data Call. FIG. 3D shows a screen displayed when Voice Call has been selected, and displays the activated services for which a user has registered in bold representation.
The CSP of the CPHS as described above is a precondition for the use of the EF CSP within the (U)SIM card, and the EF CPHSI must also exist. Further, a network provider generally does not want only the CSP service in the CPHI function. Therefore, the necessary consideration of other CPHI functions is an inconvenience.
In addition, if a user purchases the (U)SIM card in which the EF CSP has been set by a provider, the (U)SIM is not intermediately updated. Thus, a user is further inconvenienced.